An Bord Pleanála has refused permission for an industrial estate beside the new M3 motorway near Dunboyne, Co Meath, on the grounds that it would damage plans for the Dublin-Meath rail link and constitute an "unsustainable car dependent development".
Meath county councillors last June voted unanimously to rezone the land for the 42-acre industrial /business estate, in contravention of their own development plan. The application for 32 offices, light industrial and warehousing units by Royal Gateway Holding Ltd, was subsequently granted planning permission by the council but was appealed by An Taisce to An Bord Pleanála.
In its ruling, the board said that the development contravened both national and regional policies and was contrary to proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
The development site was 1km north of a proposed railway station and park-and-ride facility and would be "prejudicial" to the development of a plan for the use of the land surrounding the major rail project. The site would be accessed by a link road to the M3 which forms an "integral part of the regional road and motorway system".
Additional traffic caused by the development would "interfere with the free-flow of traffic and the carrying capacity" of the road and thus "fail to protect public investment in the national road network", the planning board said.
"It is considered that the proposed development, which would be principally dependent on private car, would lead to the creation of an unsustainable car dependent development."
